Taking Top Honors Again

Welebaethan Wins National History Honor Society’s Prize
for Best Student Journal 20 Years in a Row

January 24, 2007

By Mimi Ko Cruz

The Great Influenza of 1918 killed 675,000 Americans in 10 months. It
was experienced worldwide, yet it has been dubbed America’s forgotten
pandemic. Why?

Before he
became king of England in the 13th century, Lord Edward crusaded to the Middle
East. Why did he go?

What is
American nationalism?

These questions
are tackled in three of 15 essays compiled in the 2006 Welebaethan Journal
of History, which recently won top honors for the 20th year in a row from the
national history honor society, Phi Alpha Theta.

The Welebaethan
was awarded the Gerald D. Nash Prize for being the best student history journal
in the country.

Welebaethan “is
a truly outstanding student history journal,” said James A. Ramage, chair
of the Nash Award Selection Committee and Phi Alpha Theta’s national
vice president. “I commend Cal State Fullerton’s Theta Pi Chapter
of Phi Alpha Theta for winning the award so consistently, including the latest
competition. The faculty advisers and the student editors and writers publish
a journal that is extremely well illustrated and has research and writing with
a very high level of scholarly merit and remarkable variety. Welebaethan
is a model student journal.”

The journal
is “expertly edited and professionally presented by the students and
the result of this high quality work is that we have consistently kicked UCLA
and UC Berkeley butt,” said Gordon M. Bakken, professor of history and
Welebaethan’s legal adviser.

Added Wendy
Elliott-Scheinberg, lecturer in history and the journal’s adviser: “Dedicated
students work long and hard to complete the necessary tasks that provide the
real substance of the Welebaethan. Both grads and undergrads tackle assignments
such as line and copy editing, finding graphics, writing captions and checking
documentation.”

She said
the prize money — $400 — that accompanies the award is being used
to offset costs of this year’s edition of the journal.

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